Best brokerage firms for beginners in 2018

I can say that with so many options
in the modern online brokerage industry, choosing the right investing company can be quite an intimidating process.

In the United States, I can clearly see people here have a love-hate relationship with their investment firms.
Intimacy is built into the very nature of creating security for the future, yet investors are often dissatisfied
with the fees they pay and the services they receive.

Below, you can find the list of top brokerage firms that offer great services, provide powerful trading platforms,
do right based on their customers' evaluation and are fully regulated. Firms are great options if you are new to
investing.

Best overall brokerage firm

TD Ameritrade is a great brokerage firm for investors
of any experience level and any type.

TD Ameritrade is a highly experienced trusted brokerage firm. It is one of the largest brokerage houses in the country.
In the late 2016, the company grew even more by acquiring Scottrade, which is a well-known broker with a
long history on the market.

The pricing is slightly higher than what is offered by Ally Invest, yet there are some unique services
not offered by Ally Invest.

For instance, TD Ameritrade offers the convenience of local branches for those clients who prefer a personal touch.
More than 100 brick-and-mortar branches are located across the country, where investors can receive
one-on-one guidance and help.

Another unique aspect of TD Ameritrade is that the company offers its three award-winning trading platforms absolutely for free.
You can choose to use any platform, depending on your skills and experience level. Start with the Web Platform,
which was rated the best for novice investors by the industry's most prestigious best Barron's online brokers.
As you progress, you can choose either the highly-rated sophisticated thinkorswim or the advanced Trade Architect.
In fact, a majority of online brokers charge steep fees for using premium platforms.
Those are offered for free by TD Ameritrade!

Other strong features of TD Ameritrade include its more than 250+ commission-free ETFs will help cut down the cost of investment.
Also, TD Ameritrade offers excellent educational and resources and research amenities.

With a wide selection of investment choices, TD Ameritrade is great for opening an IRA account.
The broker offers a wide selection of fees-free
IRA accounts. There is a $2,500 opening investment
requirement for a retirement account. A brokerage account can be opened with as low as $0, which is a great
opportunity for a new investor to use the firm's educational resources and explore trading tools.
TD Ameritrade even offers a simulated trading. You can learn tools and apply your investing knowledge risk-free.

As I mentioned above, a TD Ameritrade account can be opened and explored with no initial deposit.
However, if you decide to invest $3,000+ into your account in the first 60 days of account opening,
you will receive 60 days of commission-free trading.

Best cheapest brokerage firm

Ally Invest offers a wide array of investment products, a well-designed and easy-to-use intuitive trading platform
and great customer service. All these great services are inherited from TradeKing. The merger of two firms allowed
Ally Invest to provide even more services. So, Ally Invest offers a great variety of online banking services,
which were not offered by TradeKing. It is all for the same low price and no account fees!

Ally Invest waived a $50 inactivity fee for every client. At TradeKing, the fee was a big drawback for some new investors.
Ally Invest does not require any minimum balance or any minimum investment. You can be more than a little
surprised to see that there is no initial investment to open an account. Basically, anyone can
open an Ally Invest account and
start exploring the broker's services and tools for free!

There is even more. Ally Invest introduced the special lower pricing for investors who make 30 or more trades
in the prior calendar quarter and also for high net worth investors.
You only need to maintain an average daily balance of more than $100,000 in the prior calendar quarter
to receive the broker's special rate.

If you plan to open an IRA account,
the broker offers a variety of IRA accounts with no annual or maintenance fees.
The only $50 fee will be applied if you choose to close a retirement account.

Best a portfolio-based online investing firm

Swell Investing is a portfolio-based online investing platform.
Swell focuses on providing clients with a way to invest in companies that have a positive impact on the world.
Portfolios are constructed around high-impact global trends - 'healthy living,' 'renewable energy' and 'clean water'
- with potentially high returns.

You can start with Swell with a minimum balance of $50. It does not charge any trading commissions.
There is a 0.75% annual fee charged on a monthly basis. In fact, according to the Swell's official website,
"If all you ever do is put in your first $50, your annual fees will be approximately $0.375 ($50 * 0.0075= $0.375)"

Swell does not charge a fee to close the account. Once you initiate withdrawal of balance to your linked
bank account, you can expect to receive it within six to seven business days.

If you are concerned about what makes Swell different from any fund, it is transparency. You, as an investor,
are totally transparent into what you own and have an opportunity to make changes to your holdings at any time.

The firm is a legitimate company which is regulated by the US Securities
and Exchange Commission.

Best brokerage firm for active traders

TradeStation offers a free premium trading platform, which was
offered for $95 anually less than a year ago. Year after year, TradeStation's trading platforms and
professional level trading tools receive high rating and recognition as one of the best trading
software in the annual Barron's best online brokers' ranking. TradeStation is among the top brokers
for options traders by Barron's.

The company mostly targets experienced high-volume active traders. However, if you are a less
than experienced trader, you can also open an account with TradeStation as long as you are willing
to make a minimum investment of $5,000.

Tradestation offers two different pricing plans - the per-trade and the per-share plans. The latter one is designed
for active and high-volume traders. Unless you are a frequent trader and decide to choose the per-share plan,
stock trades will cost you $5 while options will cost you $5 + $0.50 per contract.

* - Ally Invest offers special pricing of $3.95 per equity trade and 50 cents per options contract for users
who make 30 or more trades in the prior calendar quarter and/or maintain an average daily balance of more than
$100,000 in the prior calendar quarter.

** -"If all you ever do is put in your first $50, your annual fees will be approximately $0.375 ($50 * 0.0075= $0.375)"